The last years there has been an increased demand within cardiology for an efficient heart prosthesis.
Heart diseases and often in combination with circulatory diseases give rise to a serious threat against the patient's life.
Heart failure, as a result of a longterm weakness of the function of the heart, is a very serious condition and will sooner or later lead to death.
Access to healthy donator hearts is also very restricted and a patient may have to wait for several years for a suitable heart to be presented for implantation.
For these reasons it is of great importance to find and develop an artificial heart or rather an apparatus which can offer a continuous, harmless, comfortable, and reliable substitute for a weak, failing heart.
For many years a number of artificial heart prostheses have been introduced. However, these show a number of deficiencies and drawbacks, such as lack of implantability, lack of physiological pliability, lack of longterm use as well as lack of pliability with regard to beat-volume.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,139,517 shows an artificial heart which is hydraulically operated by activation from a pacemaker.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,135,539 shows a heart prosthesis working with an electromechanical device in the form of a hydraulic micropump.
FR-A-2,710,847 shows an artificial heart having two different sacks and being operated by hydraulic oil.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,809,676 shows a device to be implanted around aorta and which is controlled by a series of electromagnets placed opposite each other. When the electromagnets are activated aorta will be compressed between these so that a pumping movement is obtained.
WO 99/55399 shows an electromagnetically controlled heart assistance technology where a number of electromagnets are placed on the outside of the living heart, which means that one has an electromagnetically supported heart.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,099,460 shows an artificial heart having flexible outer walls which are influenced by electromagnets, partly applied on the outer walls of the flexible walls, partly applied on the inside of the heart.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,123,724 shows a construction to influence a heart by means of electromagnetic coils attached to the ribs and permanent magnets placed adjacent the electromagnetic coils. It is hereby a matter of supporting function when the normal pacing of a heart does not function.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,197,055 relates to a single chamber prosthesis having a movable wall which obtains pumping by being turned from one side to the other.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,383,840 relates to a heart supporting construction having a compression pad to surround a common heart by means of which compression pad the pumping of the heart is obtained.
None of these references discloses a rigid-wall provided prosthesis having inner flexible compartments.